Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: _____ Clear Filter

Why the most exciting Android phone this year isn't made by Samsung or Google

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET Nothing's new flagship phone is its most expensive and risky product yet. At $799, the Nothing Phone 3 no longer undercuts its midrange competitors. Instead, the handset takes on the likes of the iPhone Pro, Pixel Pro, and Galaxy S phones of the world with a striking design, functional AI features, and fine software tuning. Also: I tested Nothing's first over-ear headphones, and they made my AirPods Max look boring And it does so while sacrificing its most iconic feature,

I replaced my Pixel 9 Pro with a $300 rugged Android phone - here's my buying advice

ZDNET's key takeaways The Oukitel WP56 is now available for $300 on the official site The WP56 is a mid-range phone that performs above its price and has an impressive battery life Like most Oukitel phones, the WP56 is very heavy. View now at Oukitel Let me set the stage for you. You're out in the wilderness. Maybe you're working on a job site, or you've taken your Jeep for some off-road action. The terrain and the weather are rough, and you might not have the means to give your phone a char

Samsung is giving existing Galaxy phone users a $240 gift for free - here's how to accept it

Reddit (TheACwarriors) / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET If you're a Samsung phone user, you can take advantage of a pretty sweet offer: a free year of Perplexity Pro. Samsung doesn't appear to have made any official announcement about the promotion, so it would be easy not to know about it, but users are seeing the offer under the "Deals and events" tab of the Galaxy Store app. This is a $240 value if you pay monthly, or a $200 value if you pay yearly. Also: 5 projects Perplexity's new Labs AI

One of the best budget Android tablets I've tested isn't made by Samsung or Google

ZDNET's key takeaways The TCL Tab 10 Nxtpaper 5G is a full-color, color paper, and ink paper tablet available at Verizon for $239. It's a great entertainment tablet for daily use that also functions very well as an e-reader. Although the screen is versatile, don't expect the graphics to compare to those on an iPad or other high-end tablets. View now at Verizon For a limited time, Verizon is running an offer for the TCL Tab 10 Nxtpaper 5G that nets you $100 off the tablet when you purchase it

4 headphones I swear by (and how I use each pair differently)

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

This budget Android phone impressed me more than I expected - here's why

ZDNET's key takeaways The Nuu N20 has a 6.5-inch, 90Hz display and is available now on Amazon for $125. For the money, the N20 would make for a great first phone or for someone on a tight budget. It's far from a flagship device, but it doesn't feel like it costs only $125. $129.99 at Amazon Are you tired of the soaring cost of phones? If you have a family of four, you could easily spend $4,000 on four flagship devices, and that could happen regularly. Also: This $400 Motorola comes with a bu

My biggest Z Fold 6 regrets after a year - and what Samsung must fix for the Fold 7

Kerry Wan/ZDNET It's not a hot take to say that Samsung hasn't changed the core design of its Galaxy Z Fold series since day one. While the cover screen has grown over time, the overall candy bar-style form factor has remained mostly untouched. While brands like Honor, Vivo, and Google have released slimmer foldables, Samsung has stuck to steady, incremental upgrades, resulting in a sturdy hinge that holds at almost any angle and polished software for productivity. Also: Samsung offers $1,000

The best gaming PCs of 2025: Expert tested

High-end gaming PCs feature the latest processors and graphics cards for top-tier performance, perfect for tackling intensive triple-A titles. However, if you're more of a casual gamer or buying for a younger player, you don't need to break the bank to get a solid gaming experience. Budget options with older or lower-end components still offer plenty of power for popular games -- just be prepared to adjust your settings. For those looking to maximize value, building your own PC is a great way t

Topics: gaming intel pc power ram

The best small tablets of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

I replaced my Dyson for this discounted cordless stick vacuum - here's why it's better

ZDNET's key takeaways The Tineco Pure One Station 5 vacuum cleaner is available on Amazon for $459. It's a powerful cordless vacuum with a self-emptying base station, perfect for pet owners and parents. Some parts can be finicky, like lining up the floor brush on the base station, or its accessories getting stuck and not easily detaching. $459 at Amazon Since I began testing the Tineco Pure One Station 5, I've reached for it for everyday messes over any other vacuum at home. It's proven to be

I've tested dozens of ThinkPads: Here's the Lenovo model I keep coming back to

ZDNET's key takeaways Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Aura Edition is available now starting at $2,419. It combines all the utility of a ThinkPad with exceptional battery life. It's expensive, and some of the Aura Edition features are being discontinued. $2,419 at B&H Photo-Video Lenovo's 10th-generation ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Aura Edition is a business-minded laptop with a few design perks to differentiate it from the crowd. We're talking a convertible form factor, pen support, ample I/O, and fantas

The best smart home devices of 2025: Expert tested and reviewed

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

The best USB-C cables for the iPhone 15 in 2025: Expert tested

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or

Off with Their Heads: Illustrations of Blemmyes (ca. 1175–1724)

No matter that a headless tribe of people never existed, their inclusion in ancient histories made them popular fodder for later bestiary and travelogue traditions. Beginning with their appearance in the late-tenth century Marvels of the East, the Blemmyes often look just as confused as we are — staring out at the viewer, as if trying to understand where, exactly, their neck went wrong. In these illustrations, Blemmyes frequently keep equally strange bedfellows. The thirteenth-century Rutland Ps

Spain and Brazil push global action to tax the super-rich and curb inequality

Presented during the UN’s 4th International Conference on Financing for Development – taking place this week in Sevilla, Spain – the proposal highlights a growing problem: the richest individuals often contribute less to public finances than ordinary taxpayers, thanks to lower effective tax rates and legal loopholes. “Our countries need more and more public revenues to meet their needs. Inequality is a problem everywhere and the richest pay less than the middle class – even less than lower-inco

A proof-of-concept neural brain implant providing speech

Stephen Hawking, a British physicist and arguably the most famous man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), communicated with the world using a sensor installed in his glasses. That sensor used tiny movements of a single muscle in his cheek to select characters on a screen. Once he typed a full sentence at a rate of roughly one word per minute, the text was synthesized into speech by a DECtalk TC01 synthesizer, which gave him his iconic, robotic voice. But a lot has changed since

Hexagon fuzz: Full-system emulated fuzzing of Qualcomm basebands

Key takeaways 1. Due to Qualcomm’s proprietary architecture, a lack of security tooling exists around their baseband 2. Our tooling enables research on Hexagon baseband with significantly reduced engineering work 3. We release the first open-source toolchain for full-system emulated Hexagon firmware fuzzing at TROOPERS25 Overview Every phone has a cellular baseband processor to handle mobile communications (5G, 4G, GPS, and more). Qualcomm created a specific architecture for its baseband c

Deaf Teenager and 24-Year-Old Gain Ability to Hear After Experimental Gene Therapy

In recent years, gene therapy has emerged as a promising treatment for genetic forms of congenital deafness—hearing loss that’s present at birth—in children. A new study shows that gene therapy can bestow hearing in teenagers and adults with this condition, too. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Medicine, recruited patients with deafness or severe hearing impairment caused by mutations in the OTOF gene. This gene manufactures a protein called Otoferlin, which plays a critical

HP 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop (64GB RAM, 2TB SSD) Is Nearly $2,000 Off, Lowest Price for This New Model

Being able to use your laptop however you want is a must for a lot of us. Whether you’re working from home, on a train, or just studying, a good laptop is a huge deal. There are loads of great options out there, but these often come with hefty price tags that put them out of reach of a lot of people. That’s why it’s such a big deal when there’s a really good sale going on. See at Amazon Well, we’ve found an amazing deal that lets you pick up a 2025 HP 15.6-inch laptop for $900, which is a mass

I Found the Best Way to Stop Mosquitos This Summer, and It's Not a Spray or Candle

Longer, hotter summers mean one thing: longer, itchier, angrier mosquito seasons. And if June's sizzling heat waves are any preview of summer's dog days, you're gonna need more than good vibes and a flickering citronella candle to make it through. I was playing it fast and loose with the usual bug defenses: sprays that smell bad and taste even worse and candles that burn out faster than your will to be outside. Then I met my new summer MVP: the Thermacell. It's a compact, affordable, bug-repell

Best Internet Providers in Reno, Nevada

What is the best internet provider in Reno? CNET recommends AT&T as the best internet provider for most Reno households thanks to its strong combination of solid speeds, affordable pricing and connectivity options, including Internet Air, Fiber and 5G. While AT&T may not be available everywhere in Reno, other options like Spectrum and local provider Net NV offer solid alternatives, depending on your address. For those prioritizing budget over speed, Spectrum delivers the cheapest plan in Reno

Best Rural Internet Providers for 2025

Our picks 90001 Edit ZIP code Why we chose these providers Sort by Best rural home internet provider 87 - 415 Mbps $50 - $70 per month Check with T-Mobile Provider not available in 90001 Edit ZIP code Or call to learn more: (877) 519-7610 Best wired rural internet provider 10 - 140 Mbps $55 per month Check with CenturyLink Provider not available in 90001 Edit ZIP code Or call to learn more: (866) 671-3650 Best rural fixed wireless internet provider 25 - 50 Mbps $45 - $65 per month Check with Ris

AirTag 2 Rumors: New Leaks on Upcoming Features and Release Date

It's been more than four years since Apple launched the original AirTag. In Apple years, that's practically a lifetime. While the little tracker has become a go-to for finding lost keys, wallets and luggage, it is severely overdue for an update. That sort of delay is unusual for Apple, which tends to refresh most of its product lines every couple of years. Now, as we head into summer travel season, when item trackers are more useful than ever, rumors and hints are heating up that a second-gen A

These Transcribing Eyeglasses Put Subtitles on the World

I knew the AI on these smart glasses worked pretty well once it told me that someone else in the conversation was being the socially awkward one. TranscribeGlass are smart eyeglasses that aim to do exactly what it says on the tin: transcribe spoken conversations and project subtitles onto the glass in front of your eyes. They’re meant for the Deaf and, primarily, the hard-of-hearing community who struggle to read lips or pick out a conversation in a loud room. Most face computers are graceless

Paramount agrees to pay Trump $16 million, clearing way for multibillion-dollar merger

Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against its subsidiary CBS, clearing a path for the administration to approve the media giant’s multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media. In a statement seen by CNN on Tuesday night, Paramount said the settlement payment is inclusive of Trump’s legal fees and costs, and that the money will be allocated to his future presidential library instead of being paid to Trump directly. The sum is below the $10 bill

Google Photos sees several app improvements

The Google Photos app has been updated to make it easier to navigate your gallery and view image information. Google says the photo view — the screen that appears when you open an image in Google Photos — has been redesigned to provide a “simpler, more modern, and more intuitive UI” while adding a new light mode, glanceable photo details, and streamlined action menus. These changes are available now for iPhone users, and will be coming to the Google Photos app for Android “soon,” according to G

Qantas hack results in theft of 6 million passengers’ personal data

In Brief Australian airline giant Qantas said on Wednesday it experienced a data breach that compromised the personal information of at least six million passengers. The airline said a cybercriminal targeted one of its call centers on June 30, and stole customer data from its systems, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and frequent flyer numbers. Qantas is the latest airline hacked in recent weeks following a spate of breaches attributed to Scattered Spider, a col

Chipmakers get larger tax credits in Trump’s latest ‘big beautiful bill’

The latest version of U.S. President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" could make it cheaper for semiconductor manufacturers to build plants in the U.S. as Washington continues its efforts to strengthen its domestic chip supply chain. Under the bill, passed by the Senate Tuesday, tax credits for those semiconductor firms would rise to 35% from 25%. That's more than the 30% increase that had made it into a draft version of the bill. Companies eligible for the credits could include chipmakers